


A saying as old as time

by duskbutterfly



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Episode 3x19, Episode Tag, F/M, Olicity Forever, Season 3, if you love her, it's time to let her go, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 09:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3763582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duskbutterfly/pseuds/duskbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, you just know when it’s time to let go.<br/>Episode 3x19 Tag. Ray realising that the time has come because her heart belongs to someone else. Implied Olicity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A saying as old as time

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the look on Ray's face during the scene between Oliver and Felicity. The complete loss of hope.

She was perfect for him. Despite everything that thought had never been wrong. She was a smarter, sexier version of himself, maybe a little more stubborn and definitely more sensible but ideal – in every way. 

Except one. 

She was determined to prove the adage that money can’t buy love. 

Not love like hers anyway. And that, really was the only love he was interested in. Because he loved her. Maybe not as deeply as he’d loved Ann, not yet, but love none the less. 

He could hardly believe it when he’d found her. She’s a figure of legend in hacking circles who worked for the arrow, who could find ways into dark corners others could only dream about, who was a genius with all forms of technology – and yet somehow, ended up working as an EA to billionaire (short any form of college degree and now short his billions too) and after he went down in flames of ignominy, a girl in an IT store. A girl waiting for her white knight. A girl who needed to see that there were guys who were brilliant and billionaires. And who better to woo her than Ray Palmer? A man who fit every criteria be it technology wizard, genius IQ, billionaire, handsome, heroic (the ATOM suit was about more than just technological mastery) – who could appreciate her, challenge her, love her the way she deserved. 

And yet she turned out to be… 

A girl who didn’t want to be saved. A girl who money actually didn’t seem to impress. A girl who had this thing with Oliver Queen that didn’t make any sense. A girl who fought against his picking out a better future for her. 

But then he’d finally thought he’d found a way in, he bought QC and the IT Store and suddenly he could offer her two choices which both entailed working for him but one actually represented her level of skill. One that surely she’d take one look at and realise that he was standing here offering her a job she’d never think to apply for but actually deserved more than anyone else in any city he’d been to – and he’d been to just about every city on this planet and was a key investor so when the time came to investigate other worlds, he had a seat on that shuttle and could get her a seat on that shuttle. Come to think of it maybe he should have tried that angle? But no. If this experience had taught him anything (and if the pain was anything to go by, he’d guess it had definitely been a teaching type of experience) it was that people like Felicity Smoak weren’t coercible with money or influence. 

He’d thought initially… 

That day she’d come and accepted his job offer – yes technically she’d gotten it wrong and thought he’d made the same mind bending mistake of putting someone with a genius IQ in and EA position – but that day, he’d known he was finally in with a chance. Just as he should have known the day that she admitted she had feelings for Oliver that he wasn’t going to be able to keep her. Not that she’d done anything wrong because she hadn’t. He knew she cared about him, really cared in a way which only she seemed to be capable of, making you feel like the centre of the universe even though you knew at the same time that she was your sun. She wasn’t someone who played with people; who set them against one another, who wanted men to fight for her affection. If anything he’d guess she had no idea the effect she had on them just by focusing that smile their way, for sharing just a little bit of that knowledge and finding a way to make their lives that little bit brighter…

And he’d be lying if he said there hadn’t been a sense of victory when she’d finally come to his side. When he’d finally had and held what Oliver Queen had so obviously underestimated and lost. He’d accepted that he’d have to share her – to a certain, purely technical support extent – with the Arrow, her loyalty was part of her appeal. And despite the initial hang-ups she’d had on being part of another superhero team she’d come to believe in him and the barrier to being part of the ATOM team had been that she cared for him rather than that she didn’t. He’d been quietly confident that over time it would be his calls that would get absolute priority and that with their design there would be no more crying in his offices as this city would only need one hero and it was going to be the ATOM not the Arrow. So even though Oliver Queen was the Arrow and she was loyal to team arrow and cared about Oliver, she’d chosen him, Ray Palmer. And Oliver Queen had let her go. 

And she was a great girlfriend. An amazing girlfriend. They were perfect together, in everyway. 

Except one.

She loved Oliver Queen. 

He’d known it long before that moment leaning against his car that he’d seen them together, her hands around his arm, her chin leaning on his shoulder. Long before he’d heard her remind Oliver that there were people who loved him. If he’s being honest and it doesn’t feel like he has a choice, he knew before he told her in the hospital that he loved her. He’d just kind of hoped that saying it might make her realised she loved him too. 

But now, knowing that if it wasn’t that she felt like she’d made a commitment to him, is she didn’t like him, that there would be no question that she’d be with Oliver. Seeing them standing there together while he waited by the car, he knew the writing was on the wall. Knew that she cared for him but that it wasn’t enough. 

He knew her heart was no longer hers to give. 

Which meant he had to let her go. He didn’t want to. God he didn’t want to. And he knew it would hurt them both because she cared too. But he cared enough, perhaps for the first time ever, he cared enough to be able to let her go. Because that was what she needed, she needed him to be brave and strong and let her go. Because he couldn’t protect her, love her the way that Oliver did. They had affection, they had shared genius and they were building an empire together but her heart and her soul weren’t hers to give or his to receive.


End file.
